The show about terrorism, surveillance and intelligence gathering has always demanded suspension of disbelief in the midst of the great suspense tale: Carrie can just show up in the woods behind the rich guy’s mansion for a rendez-vous with Brody during the weekend political pow-wow? Brody can drive from Washington to Pennsylvania, kill a man with his bare hands while talking to his wife on a cellphone, drive back, ditch the blood and be home to lie to his wife in time for bed? The veep’s son can really outrun the Secret Service through the streets of downtown? The world’s most-wanted terrorist Abu Nazir can walk into a convenience store in DC, minutes before crashing into Carrie’s car? And Nazir, previously presented as the cool and remote theorist, the brains behind the operation, not the hands-on murdering kind, is suddenly tying up a CIA agent?

It’s not to be taken this seriously, in the same way the rooftop swimming pool with skyscrapers in the background screaming “L.A.,” not Washington, is not to be taken seriously. Intersecting love triangles in the midst of the highest-level security clearances? It’s a drama.

If you think too hard about even the best dramas, and “Homeland” is certainly one of the best, most resonant hours of the season, you can find holes, exaggerations or implausible dialog. Even as “Homeland” risks becoming a thrill ride like “24” rather than a cerebral puzzle as it was at first, I’m still in for the ride.

Poetic license is one thing but being ridiculous is another. the story has “lost the plot” . I have not watched the second series as it seems to centre around Carrie and Brody. Why is she obsessed with him. He seems to be in dreamland all the time and does not have an agenda even though everyone thinks he is. Would a FBI agent fall in love with someone for no apparent reason. Then he goes home to his wife as if nothing has happenned. Most ridiculous. I only watched one ep of the current series and gave up.

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.